Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment When to test

My daughter was tested midway through kindergarten because she was desperately unhappy. We used the information to negotiate a grade skip (she did have to change schools as well because her first school wouldn't skip her). It made a big difference.

I had my son tested a few months before kindergarten to be prepared. It seems to have been unnecessary and I haven't shown the scores to his school (they accelerated him anyway after getting to know him). However, I still think that the information on his strengths and weaknesses was useful.

I didn't expect my daughter to have difficulty in school. I think it might have been helpful to have the scores when she started school. However, I think it depends on the individual school. I found that, apart from the gifted specialist who tested her for the school gifted program, people just didn't seem to put much weight in her scores. Despite the chapter books she was reading in kindergarten, I don't think they really believed me. I think they thought she was just pushed. The school only really became responsive when she became a DYS, which seemed to mean more to them.

Anyway, my point is that the scores may be very useful if problems develop with the school, but it's also possible that the school won't pay much attention (meeting with them in advance to ask about gifted accommodations may help in gauging this). Additionally, the scores may be less reliable at a younger age (although my daughter's scores have been consistent since kindergarten).

I'd suggest considering your child's maturity and the responsiveness of your school, then whether you would still find it useful to have some information on strengths and weaknesses regardless of whether it helps with the school. If you don't have good testing options, or if testing is a hardship not covered by insurance, that also makes a difference. As a side note, testing may be covered by insurance under some circumstances. Ours covered my daughter's first educational evaluation, but not the second several years later.